tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20950240848701358362015-07-07T14:27:38.408-07:00The Mordecai Female AcademyPenny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-78168258471216416222015-07-07T14:27:00.000-07:002015-07-07T14:27:38.434-07:00153, 154. Jane Evans and Lydia Anna Evans Two Evans girls were with the Mordecai school when it opened in 1809: <b>Jane Evans</b> was there from 1809 until mid-1811, and her sister <b>Lydia Anna Evans</b> (sometimes written as <i>Lydianna, </i>which might reflect how it was pronounced) was there until the end of 1810.&nbsp; They came from Oakland, an estate near Petersburg, Virginia, and had Dr. George Evans as the name attached to their accounts in the school ledger.&nbsp; The Mordecai family discussed the Evans girls in letters, beginning even before their arrival:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"The house is full of girls and... in a few weeks Lidyanna &amp; Jane Evans will come Mrs. Johnson is now at Oakland and they will return with her." (Ellen to Samuel, 16 April 1809, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke)</blockquote>The family were, obviously from their name, Welsh in ancestry. The girls' father <a href="http://markhamchesterfield.com/sketches/SkchD219_DrEvans.pdf" target="_blank"><b>Dr. George Evans</b> </a>(c1755-1822).&nbsp; He moved South from Pennsylvania to Virginia after the Revolutionary War, in which he served as a surgeon.&nbsp; Their mother was the former Mary Peyton (d. 1818).&nbsp; The girls' much older sister Mary Evans married <b><a href="http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc/viu00773.xml" target="_blank">William R. Johnson</a></b>, a notable Warrenton resident, in 1803. (That's the Mrs. Johnson mentioned above and below.)<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.newspapers.com/clip/2759843/marriage_announcement_governor_william/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Marriage announcement, Governor William Miller and Lydiana Evans (1816)." src="http://img1.newspapers.com/img/thumbnail/58185594/400/300/4637_2139_1101_355.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The marriage announcement of Governor William Miller and Lydiana Evans<br /><i>Weekly Raleigh Register</i> (June 7, 1816): 3.<br />From Newspapers.com</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>&nbsp;</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Lydia Anna Evans </b>(d. 1818) left the Mordecai school at the end of 1810; she married almost six years later, to <b><a href="http://ncpedia.org/biography/miller-william" target="_blank">William Miller</a></b>, at Chesterfield, Virginia, in May 1816 (see announcement above). William Miller was a Warrenton man, well known to the Mordecais, but at the time of the wedding he was well-known throughout the state--because he was the Governor of North Carolina from 1814 to 1817. (So a Mordecai girl became the first lady of North Carolina while the school was still running.)&nbsp; Sadly for Lydia Anna, the glamor was very short-lived: she was soon pregnant, had her son William Jr., and she died in March 1818.&nbsp; (William Jr. soon joined his mother; he only lived to be five years old.) Her widower Governor Miller died in 1825, traveling through Florida on a diplomatic mission to Guatemala.<br /><br />The Mordecais commented on Lydia Anna's death, of course:&nbsp;<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"We have just received intelligence of the death of Mrs. Miller (Lydia Anna Evans)--So young, so sweet, &amp; so lovely, who can think without pain of her being this early nipped in her bloom. The last letter from Mrs. Johnson mentioned her being much better, &amp; her husband had come out to prepare for her removal to their intended place of residence. Her last illness must have been short for her had not received intelligence of it, &amp; was still absent, when the final event took place." (Rachel to Samuel, 22 February 1818, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke)<br /><br />"The last visitation on the Evans family is a most melancholy one and you are so prone to feel another's woe, that exclusive of the attachment you had for Mrs. M., your sympathy for them must be strongly excited..." (Samuel to Rachel, 1 March 1818, same as above)<br /><br />"A letter from Mrs. Johnson to Mary mentions that the amiable deceased had left to her the care of her infant, from this I conclude that she was sensible of her approaching fate." (Rachel to Samuel, 1 March 1818, same as above)<br /> </blockquote><b>Jane Maria Evans:&nbsp; </b>No sooner had Lydia Anna died, than her sister Jane Evans, also a Mordecai alumna, followed; the Mordecais shared the news:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"You will unite with me in deep &amp; sincere concern when I acquaint you with the new misfortune of the devoted family of poor Dr. Evans--Jane is no more, she expired on the 12th of this month, Lydia on the 13th of last.&nbsp; Her health had for some time been delicate, and the shock proved too severe for her to bear. Poor Mrs. Johnson appears, as she must be, overwhelmed with grief. Does it not seem indeed too much for human nature to support? I fear it will be impossible for her poor mother to strugle against such an accumulated load of sorrow. When I think of that family as we knew it a few years ago, so cheerful, so happy, so pleased with one another, the girls so gentle, so lovely, and blooming..." (Rachel to Samuel, 22 March 1818, same as above)<br /><br />"The succession of misfortune in the Evans' family is enough to excite commiseration even in those who feel less interest in their happiness than we do. I had not heard of Jane's death until you mentioned it." (Samuel to Rachel, 29 March 1818, same as above)</blockquote>But there was still more tragedy for the Evans family in 1818.&nbsp; That summer, the mother of Lydia and Jane, Mary Peyton Evans, also died. "The unfortunate old lady had never left her chamber since the death of Jane, but has borne her own severe sufferings with entire patience &amp; resignation. She may indeed be said to have fallen victim of a broken heart." (Rachel to Samuel, 26 July 1818, same as above) <br /><br />Death dates and circumstances are thus well-established; I still don't know when either student was born, or where they might have been buried (I assume a private family plot near the family home at Oakland?).&nbsp; Does anyone know?<br /><br />Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-12820406794251756262015-05-02T10:35:00.000-07:002015-05-02T10:41:27.804-07:00151, 152. Catharine Williams Epes Green (1802-1887) and Elizabeth Campbell Epes Jones (1803-1880)There are two girls named "Epes" in the rolls of the Mordecai school.&nbsp; Catharine/Catherine Epes was at the school for two years, 1813 and 1814; Elizabeth was there for all of 1817.&nbsp; There's a Thomas Epes associated with Catharine's account, and a William B. Cowan might have been acting as guardian for Elizabeth.&nbsp; They're from Virginia, from my notes.<br /><br />Note that the common Virginia surname Epes can also appear as Epps or Eppes.&nbsp; We've already met one Mordecai girl with the name Eppes as her middle name, <a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2014/05/134-sarah-eppes-doswell-cabell-1802-1874.html" target="_blank">Sarah Eppes Doswell Cabell</a> -- so she's a possible school connection to Catherine and Elizabeth Epes too.<br /><br />So this was maybe easier than I expected:&nbsp; <b>Catherine Williams Epes Green </b>(1802-1887), daughter of Thomas Epes and Catherine Williams, married William B. Green in 1827.&nbsp; Catherine's uncle John Epes had daughters Catherine Grace Epes Cowan (who married William Bowie Cowan) and <b>Elizabeth Campbell Epes Jones</b> (1803-1880), who married Richard Jones in 1818.&nbsp; So Mordecai students Catherine and Elizabeth were first cousins.&nbsp; Fellow student Sarah Eppes Doswell was another cousin; Sarah and Catherine had their Williams grandparents in common. Elizabeth's mother was John Epes' second wife, so she wasn't truly first cousins to Sarah Doswell, but these families were all very much entangled.&nbsp; Congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Parham_Epes" target="_blank">Sydney Parham Epes</a> (1865-1900) was one of the Epes' girls' distant nephews, and Congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Epes" target="_blank">James F. Epes</a> (1842-1910) seems to be from the same extended family. <br /><br />How does William B. Cowan come into the story? Elizabeth Epes's father John died in 1816, so it makes sense that her older half-sister's husband, Cowan, paid Elizabeth's accounts at the Mordecai school the following year.<br /><br /><a href="http://latrobefamily.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I16771&amp;tree=mytree#cite1" target="_blank">Catherine Epes Green</a> doesn't seem to have had any children in her long life; <a href="http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nottoway/bibles/j5200001.txt" target="_blank">Elizabeth Epes Jones </a>had about eight children, <a href="http://arlisherring.com/tng/getperson.php?personID=I141664&amp;tree=Herring&amp;PHPSESSID=b8777c509411d40ad4165aa7908e9e7b" target="_blank">maybe more.</a>&nbsp; Both women lived through the Civil War and into old age, and as far as I can tell neither ever lived away from Virginia--except for during their schooldays in North Carolina.<br /><br />Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-77905134157583691042015-05-02T06:59:00.000-07:002015-05-02T06:59:35.516-07:00150. Catherine ElliottThere was a student at the Mordecai school named Catherine Elliott.&nbsp; She attended for two-and-a-half years, from mid-1813 to the end of 1815; I don't have an adult name attached to the account, or a hometown, or any much else to go on, so hmmmm.&nbsp; Probably not going to find this one out there.&nbsp; There was a Catherine Elliott born in Orange County NC in 1797, died 1860, so she'd be about the right age, but with no other identification I'm not thinking it's a strong enough match.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-45780095748347850592015-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:002015-03-04T14:23:03.338-08:00149. Elizabeth Elcan (1805-1823)A student named <b>Elizabeth Elcan</b> is listed in the student rolls for the Mordecai school.&nbsp; She was there from mid-1815 to September 1818, when she left the school in ill-health.&nbsp; The adult names attached to her account are Lionel (or Lion) Elcan and Christopher Hunt.&nbsp; The Elcans and Mordecais were friends even before 10-year-old "Betsey" appeared in Warrenton.&nbsp; Elizabeth Elcan is also the first Mordecai student whose story reached her present-day kin through me.&nbsp; In the early 1990s when I was working on my dissertation, Carl Coleman Rosen got in touch by letter (remember, this was before most folks had email).&nbsp; He had heard of my interest in the school and wondered if I knew anything about Betsey.&nbsp; I did!&nbsp; He included a page about her in his family history, <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/244_years_of_Elcan_family_history.html?id=pylKAAAAMAAJ" target="_blank">244 Years of Elcan Family History</a></i> (self-published, 1994).<br /><br />So here are some details about Betsey Elcan.&nbsp; She was born in 1805, the daughter of Lion Elcan (1750-1833) and Elizabeth Hooper Elcan.&nbsp; She was the second-youngest of their nine children, born between 1788 and 1811. Their father was born in Prussia, and the family lived in Buckingham County, Virginia.&nbsp; When she was ten, she was brought to the Mordecai school by her sister Sally (Ellen to Samuel, 25 June 1815, Mordecai Family Papers at the Southern Historical Collection), where she stayed until she was 13.&nbsp; <br /><br />In 1821, Betsey visited the Mordecais at Spring Farm with her sister Sally, Mrs. Christopher Hunt. The report of her health wasn't good:&nbsp; "Betsey has grown, and is very pretty.&nbsp; She is in <u>deep decline</u>, and looks almost as delicate as her amiable sister...I never felt anything so touching as her manner on Sunday night.&nbsp; She had a spasm, and lay perfectly insensible on the bed, and while her hands were forcibly contracted, with a countenance as mild as an angel, in the softest tone of voice, she repeated those lines from the Universal prayer beginning 'teach me to feel'...Betsey came out her and stayed several days, she does not like a city life much..." (Ellen to Caroline, 20 September 1821, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke)<br /><br />Two years later, she died, age 18, after a long illness; four of her siblings also died before age 30, and none of the nine Elcans lived to see age 55 (Their parents lived to be 88 and 68.)&nbsp; Presumably some of them occupy the unmarked graves at the <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;GSln=Elcan&amp;GSiman=1&amp;GScnty=2817&amp;CRid=2268299&amp;pt=Elcan%20Family%20at%20Elk%20Hall&amp;" target="_blank">family's cemetery</a>, at their former estate, Elk Hall. Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-27550785410820695972015-02-15T20:47:00.000-08:002015-02-15T20:47:26.239-08:00148. Rebecca Edwards Banks (1797-1869)There's a student named Rebecca Edwards in the rolls of the Mordecai school that I compiled almost twenty years ago.&nbsp; She seems to have been at the school for three sessions (mid-1813 to the end of 1814), and the name Benjamin Williamson may be attached to her account. A W. N. Edwards is also mentioned with Rebecca Edwards in the ledgers--sometimes Williamson is paying the Mordecais on behalf of both Edwardses.&nbsp; <br /><br />W. N. Edwards looks like he must be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weldon_Nathaniel_Edwards" target="_blank"><b>Weldon Nathaniel Edwards</b></a> (1788-1873), a Congressman from Warren County whose <b><a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/guidedisplay.pl?index=E000083" target="_blank">papers are in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill</a></b>.&nbsp; He married a Mordecai student, <b>Lucy Norfleet</b>; and from correspondence in his papers between Benjamin Williamson and Mr. Robert Park, we know that he was a student at the Warrenton Academy and so was his brother Isaac.&nbsp; So, local family. In 1814 W. N. was serving his first term in the North Carolina state legislature, having passed the state bar in 1810.&nbsp; <br /><br />Weldon N. Edwards had a younger sister <b>Rebecca Edwards</b> (1797-1869).&nbsp; As "Mrs. Rebecca E. Banks" she's buried in <a href="http://cemeterycensus.com/nc/warr/cem080.htm" target="_blank">the family cemetery at Poplar Moun</a><a href="http://cemeterycensus.com/nc/warr/cem080.htm" target="_blank">t</a>, about twelve miles from Warrenton.&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://ncpedia.org/biography/edwards-weldon-nathaniel" target="_blank">Their parents were Priscilla Williamson and Benjamin Edwards.</a>&nbsp; She married Edmund Banks in July 1819.&nbsp; And fifty years later she died.&nbsp; But I don't have much luck finding anything about her life in between.&nbsp; If anyone knows her details, leave me a note in the comments.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-89687814147262273002015-01-11T21:11:00.000-08:002015-01-11T21:11:09.887-08:00147. Lucy Edmonds/EdmundsThere's a student named <b>Lucy Edmonds</b> in the rolls of the Mordecai school, attending from mid-1814 to the end of 1816--five sessions, a relatively long stay.&nbsp; She seems to be from Northampton County, NC, and the adult attached to her tuition payments in the ledger (1814 was named Howel Edmonds.&nbsp; She must have been ill during her stay; a letter from Rachel to Samuel Mordecai dated 23 January 1816 notes "Miss Edmunds dangerously ill upstairs (she is now convalescing)" among the many "glooms" of the school that winter (letter in the Mordecai Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Chapel Hill).<br /><br />In the later Mordecai correspondence, she turns up in a letter from Caroline to Ellen, April 1822, because some of her younger cousins (Mary and Lucy) are attending Caroline's school in Warrenton that season.&nbsp; (Caroline Plunkett to Ellen Mordecai, 22 April 1822, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke; "little Mary Edmonds" mentioned again in a letter dated 18 January 1823, still a student.)&nbsp; <br /><br />One man named<b> <a href="http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_leaders_nc_howell_edmunds.html" target="_blank">Howell Edmunds</a></b> (with this spelling) is relatively easy to identify:&nbsp; he was a colonel during the War for Independence, served in the Colonial Assembly, and in the Provincial Congress, and in the North Carolina House of Commons after statehood.&nbsp; He was also sheriff of Northampton County, North Carolina.&nbsp; He was born about 1730, married his cousin Lucy Nicholson (1737-1811) in 1757, and died.... in May 1814, just before the student Lucy appeared at the Mordecai school.&nbsp; (It seems Col. Edmunds had a sister, wife, daughter, a daughter-in-law, and at least one granddaughter all called "Lucy Edmunds," and probably some nieces too.)<br /><br /><a href="http://archive.org/stream/southsidevirgini219834/southsidevirgini219834_djvu.txt" target="_blank">The Col. Howell Edmunds seems to be the student Lucy Edmunds' grandfather.&nbsp;</a> Her father was the Colonel's son, also named Howell Edmunds; her mother was Elizabeth.&nbsp; She was one of eight children.&nbsp;<br /><br />And that's where the trail ends--I can't find a mention of this Lucy Edmunds (or Lucy Edmonds) beyond the 1810s, except the mention in Caroline's 1822 letter.&nbsp;&nbsp; Anyone know her fate?Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-51239998948836269122014-12-10T21:43:00.000-08:002014-12-10T21:43:47.628-08:00142, 143, 144, 145, 146: The Eatons (Eliza, Julia, Rebecca, Temperance, and Thomas)There are five students named Eaton in the Mordecai school rolls I compiled in the early 1990s:<br /><br /><b>Eliza Eaton</b> was at the school in 1813, both sessions.<br /><b>Julia Eaton</b> was at the school from early 1814 to the end of 1815.<br /><b>Rebecca Eaton</b> was at the school in 1815, both sessions.<br /><b>Temperance B. (Tempy) Eaton</b> was at the school from early 1812 the end of 1813.<br />And <b>Thomas Eaton</b> was there for one session, early 1813.<br /><br />The presence of a male student named Eaton is a clue that this is a local family.&nbsp; Or families.... there were a lot of Eatons in Warren County!<br /><br />William A. Eaton shows up in the ledger paying for Temperance Eaton in 1812 and 1813, so that's a good set of names to start with:<br /><b>&nbsp; </b><br /><b><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=yruvKfanqvAC&amp;lpg=PA179&amp;ots=NVLHe5QYv6&amp;dq=Temperance%20Eaton%20Alsobrook&amp;pg=PA179#v=onepage&amp;q=Temperance%20Eaton%20Alsobrook&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Temperance B. Eaton</a></b> (b. 1803) has the most distinctive name of the bunch, and she turns out to be relatively easy to find online:&nbsp; She was the daughter of <b>William Allen Eaton</b> (d. 1818) and Mary Williams, and turned 10 the year she was at Warrenton.&nbsp; Temperance B. Eaton married a lawyer named <b>Lunsford Long Alsobrook</b> in Alabama in 1826, and had one son, Jacob Eaton Alsobrook, born the following year.&nbsp;&nbsp; She probably died by 1834, when <a href="http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&amp;db=laura47&amp;id=I33087" target="_blank">her husband married his second wife</a>, Dorothea Stone.&nbsp; The Mordecais mentioned her marriage to Alsobrook, in a letter from Caroline to Ellen (29 October 1826, in the Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke): "Mr. Alsobrook came the father of the one that married Tempy Eaton, he came for Peggy &amp; you never saw anyone more reluctant to go than she was"--so apparently a younger in-law of Tempy's was sent to Caroline's school, too.<br /><br />The other Eatons are probably not all sisters to Temperance. Julia Eaton's bills were paid by a Thomas Jenkins at the end of her time there, in December 1815.&nbsp; The next month, John Rust Eaton was paying the bill for Miss Dortch (<b><a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2014/03/133-betty-dortch.html" target="_blank">Betty Dortch</a></b>, we met her already).<i>&nbsp;&nbsp; </i>Temperance B. had an older sister <b>Rebecca C. Eaton </b>(1797-1840)--but she would have been 18 during her year at the school, and would it make sense to send the older sister to school after the younger one, without any overlap?&nbsp; So I don't think this is the right Rebecca Eaton.&nbsp; But it's not impossible.&nbsp; (But just in case she's our student, she married in 1820 to John Howson Fenner (1798-1871), and had two children, and died at forty-three, in Halifax NC.)<br /><br />And <b>Tom Eaton</b> was nobody's sister, of course.&nbsp; Definitely local, he turns up in Caroline Plunkett's reports from Warrenton after the rest of the family has moved away, in the last 1820s; "Did I tell you Tom Eaton has left his father's again he has been in town several weeks I heard he was exceedingly disrespectful to Mrs. Eaton," she tells Ellen in 1828.&nbsp; In another 1828 letter (Ellen to Caroline), there's mention of Tom Eaton's poor health, but that might be another Thomas Eaton?<br /><br />There were a lot of Eatons in Warren County.&nbsp; But I'm really not having much luck finding the one specific ones who attended the Mordecai school, except Temperance.&nbsp; Hmmmm.<br /><i></i>Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-41902540144883173232014-10-08T11:12:00.003-07:002014-10-08T11:12:51.419-07:00139, 140, 141. The Easthams (Anne, Eliza, and Mildred)There are three girls named Eastham in my student rolls for the Mordecai school.&nbsp; <b>Anne, Eliza, and Mildred Eastham</b> are almost certainly sisters, all from Halifax County, Virginia, all with James Eastham as the adult on their account.&nbsp; I have Anne and Mildred (Milly) arrived in mid-1814; Anne left after just one session; Mildred stayed for most of the next two years, with their sister Eliza joining her.&nbsp; Mildred and Eliza both finished at the school at the end of 1816.&nbsp; James appears in the school ledger through during sessions.<br /><br />Either Milly or Eliza was ill during August 1816, requiring a visit from their talkative father:&nbsp; "Miss Eastham I hope has recovered before her father's anecdotes are exhausted.&nbsp; And I congratulate you on having a visitor that could talk." (Solomon to Ellen, 23 August 1816, Southern Historical Collection)&nbsp; Julia wrote about the same visit to Samuel Mordecai:&nbsp; "The best news I can give you is that Miss Eastham, her talkative &amp; goodhumoured father &amp; mother left us on Friday.&nbsp; She was much better &amp; will I hope soon recover.&nbsp; Her father must I think be a good man, he has at any rate a very tender heart, he bid us farewell with tears in his eyes &amp; was so much affected that he could hardly speak." (Julia to Samuel, August 1816 [und.], Southern Historical Collection)<br /><br />A <b><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_WJNAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=%22James%20Eastham%22%20Halifax&amp;pg=PA167#v=onepage&amp;q=%22James%20Eastham%22%20Halifax&amp;f=false" target="_blank">James Eastham was deputy sheriff of Halifax County in 1815</a></b>; there are a lot of Easthams in Halifax County, but he seems like a good candidate for starters.&nbsp; The same man was also the county surveyor in 1810.&nbsp; But his name mostly turns up in legal documents, no family history I can see.<br /><br />I see a<a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Eseddon/wc01/wc01_231.htm" target="_blank"> <b>Mildred Hardeman Eastham (1805-1857)</b></a>, who was born in Virginia, married <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ozvFZUdKHykC&amp;lpg=PA200&amp;ots=IKRmFguDD8&amp;dq=Mildred%20Hardeman%20Rose&amp;pg=PA200#v=onepage&amp;q=Mildred%20Hardeman%20Rose&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Alfred Hicks Rose</a> (a fellow Virginian) in 1828, had seven children, and died in 1857 in Tennessee (<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=58434938" target="_blank">here's her grave</a>).&nbsp; Her dates are perfect, and we know that a lot of Mordecai-connected families moved west to Tennessee in the 1820s.&nbsp; <br /><br />Now, here's a thought:&nbsp;<i><b> What if Ann and Eliza are the same person?</b></i> Their times at the school don't overlap, and if anything it makes more sense if she's one person--it means two sisters, Ann Eliza and Mildred, who were at the school simultaneously, arriving in mid-1814 and finishing in 1816. &nbsp; I found an<b><a href="http://records.ancestry.ca/ann_eliza_eastham_records.ashx?pid=36339679" target="_blank"> Ann Eliza Eastham (1803-1881)</a></b> who was born in Halifax Co. Virginia, married Thomas J. Spencer in about 1819, had two children, <a href="http://www.juch.org/gedpages/fam/fam15958.asp" target="_blank">was widowed very young</a>, and died in 1881.&nbsp; Her dates are perfect for a Mordecai student.<br /><br />I have no evidence at hand that Mildred and Ann Eliza were sisters, or were Mordecai students--only their dates and place of birth, really.&nbsp; But I'm intrigued at merging Ann and Eliza Eastham into one student.&nbsp; Makes more and more sense as I think of it.... any clues from Virginia family historians out there?Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-21931493819832688472014-10-07T09:11:00.003-07:002014-10-07T09:11:29.680-07:00138. John DyePlaceholder for this name on the roster. I'll come back to this one when I can.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-87635718787905247282014-08-16T11:07:00.001-07:002014-08-16T11:07:38.642-07:00137. Elvira W. Dupuy Eggleston (1805-1878)There's a student named Elvira W. Dupuy in the list of Mordecai school students, compiled by me in about twenty years ago.&nbsp; I'm seeing her listed as a resident of Virginia, at the school for its last three sessions (mid-1817 to the end of 1818), and with Captain James Dupuy as the adult on the account, appearing in the school ledger in June 1817, November 1817, January 1818, and June 1818.&nbsp; That seems like a lot to go on!&nbsp; And Elvira is an unusual enough name, there should be more to find.<br /><br />And there is.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.mindspring.com/~eehiv/dupuy/d13681.htm#P13681" target="_blank"><b>Elvira Dupuy</b></a> was born in Nottoway County, Virginia, in October 1805, the youngest child born to <b>Captain James Dupuy</b> (1753-1828) and Mary Purnell Dupuy (1758-1828).&nbsp;&nbsp; Her <b><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Jv4QAQAAMAAJ&amp;lpg=PA146&amp;ots=AnTUezdiZI&amp;dq=%22Richard%20Beverly%20Eggleston%22%20Elvira&amp;pg=PA146#v=onepage&amp;q=%22Richard%20Beverly%20Eggleston%22%20Elvira&amp;f=false" target="_blank">father's military rank</a></b> came from his service during the American Revolution. Her mother was 47 when Elvira was born, and Elvira's only sister Elizabeth (b. 1803) died young--so a girls' school might have seemed like a good idea for a lot of reasons when Elvira was twelve years old.&nbsp; At age 22, Elvira married fellow Virginian <b>Richard Beverly Eggleston</b> (1797-1853) as his second wife, and the following year both her parents died.&nbsp; The Egglestons had six children. Her last child was born in 1839, when Elvira was 34; and all of them were born in Virginia.&nbsp; She was widowed in 1853, age 48; she lived through the Civil War and died in 1878, a few weeks before her 73rd birthday.<br /><br />Her grandson <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dupuy_Eggleston" target="_blank">Joseph Dupuy Eggleston</a> </b>(1867-1953) was <b><a href="http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Eggleston_Joseph_Dupuy_Jr_1867-1953" target="_blank">a noted educator</a></b>, president of <b><a href="http://www.president.vt.edu/presidents/Eggleston.html" target="_blank">Virginia Tech</a></b> and <b><a href="http://www.hsc.edu/About-H-SC/History-of-H-SC/Presidential-Gallery/PresGallery/Joseph-DuPuy-Eggleston.html" target="_blank">Hampden-Sydney College</a></b>, as well as Virginia's state superintendent of public schools (1906-1912).<br /><br />The Eggleston papers at the Virginia Historical Society Library may have more about Elvira and her family.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-12408312599490163822014-06-03T12:01:00.000-07:002014-06-03T12:01:52.142-07:00135. and 136. Edwin and Joseph DrakeI've mentioned already that sometimes, especially early in the school's era, local boys were enrolled at the Mordecai school.&nbsp; Two boys, <b>Edwin and Joseph Drake</b>, were there a little later:&nbsp; Edwin was a student at the school from 1813 to mid-1815, five sessions; Joseph was there for all of 1815.&nbsp; Caswell Drake might be an adult associated with their account in the school ledger.&nbsp; Caroline Mordecai Plunkett mentions "Joe Drake" in a list of Warrenton friends in an 1829 letter (Caroline to Ellen, 5 April 1829, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke).<br /><br />Drake's a common name, of course, but Caswell stands out as a first name, and we know the family will be Warren County residents (because boys didn't board at the school).&nbsp; That makes it fairly easy to find this pair of students:&nbsp; Edwin and Joseph Drake were two of the sons of <a href="http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncwarren/fam-hist/DRAKE.pdf" target="_blank"><b>Rev. Caswell Drake</b></a> (1776-1860), a Methodist minister in town, who also served as <a href="http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/warren/obits/d/drake482ob.txt" target="_blank">Warren County Clerk of Court (1819-1833)</a>.&nbsp; Their mother was <b>Mourning Drake</b> (1772-1841) (she was a Drake by birth and by marriage); their older brother Matthew Mann Drake married another Mordecai student, <b>Winnifred Fitts</b> (more on her when we get to the Fs). <br /><br /><b>Joseph J. Drake</b> was born around 1805. Looks like he might have become a physician and married <b><a href="http://www.sallysfamilyplace.com/Neighbors/sessomrich.htm" target="_blank">Harriott (Harriet) Eliza Sessums</a></b> (born around 1815).&nbsp; They don't seem to have had children together, but in middle age, the couple raised a niece, Lucy Sills Sessums (aka Lucy Drake), whose mother died soon after her birth in Mississippi.&nbsp; They turn up in <a href="http://www.ncgenweb.us/nash/census/united-states-census-of-1850-part-iii/" target="_blank">the 1850 census</a> living with her father, Dr. Isaac Sessums, in Nash County--maybe Joseph and Isaac practiced medicine together?<br /><br /><b>Edwin D. Drake</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Drake" target="_blank"><b>not that Edwin Drake</b></a>) was apparently also born around 1805, and married <b><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=67722396" target="_blank">Rebecca Edwards (1797-1869)</a></b>, and stayed in Warren County, where he was also Clerk of Court, after his father. They had sons Joseph and Francis born in the 1830s.&nbsp;&nbsp; He may have been a North Carolina <a href="https://archive.org/stream/journalofsenateo18621863/journalofsenateo18621863_djvu.txt" target="_blank">state senator during the Civil War</a>.<br /><br />Both men kept their names, kept local, and were fairly prominent--but I can't find a death date or gravestone for either one.&nbsp; They must be out there; if you know, leave a comment.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-76229479643723428102014-05-03T20:49:00.000-07:002014-05-03T20:49:44.984-07:00134. Sarah Eppes Doswell Cabell (1802-1874)I have a student called <b>Sarah Doswell</b> in the appendix if my dissertation.&nbsp; It says she was at the Mordecai school for four sessions, 1813 and 1814, and that a Mrs. Doswell was the adult on her account.&nbsp; Indeed Mrs. Doswell appears in the August 1813 ledger page, paying board, tuition and "musick."&nbsp; And again on January 1814, paying for "Sally" (aka Sarah).&nbsp; She's mentioned as "S Doswell" once in a Mordecai letter, on 2 January 1814, Rachel mentions to Ellen that "I will go &amp; see A Young &amp; S Doswell, who have just arrived."&nbsp; So our Sally Doswell may travel with an A. Young (Ann Young was a student at the school in the same sessions as Sally Doswell, precisely).&nbsp; <br /><br />Not a lot to go on, but Doswell isn't a super-common name (though there is a town named <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doswell,_Virginia" target="_blank">Doswell, Virginia</a></b>).&nbsp; And we know she'll be born around 1800.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www2.lib.virginia.edu/small/collections/cabell/images/Large/MSS9764a/portraits/sarahepes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://www2.lib.virginia.edu/small/collections/cabell/images/Large/MSS9764a/portraits/sarahepes.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Doswell Cabell (1802-1874), <br />from the University of Virginia Library</td></tr></tbody></table>Here's a very likely candidate:&nbsp; <a href="https://www2.lib.virginia.edu/small/collections/cabell/biographies/benjwscabell.html" target="_blank"><b>Sarah Eppes Doswell</b></a> (1802-1874) of Danville, Virginia, daughter of Major <b><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=31509056" target="_blank">John Doswell</a></b> (1744-1820) and <b><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=88427925" target="_blank">Mary Poythress Eppes</a></b> (1767-1823; the Eppes is also spelled Epps and Epes).&nbsp; That puts her at the Mordecai school when she was ages 10-12.&nbsp; She married Benjamin William Sheridan Cabell (1793-1862) in 1816, at age 14.&nbsp; (Benjamin's sister, Mary Pocahontas Rebecca Cabell, married a lawyer named Peyton Doswell, presumably a relation of Sarah's).&nbsp; They had eleven children together, and lived in Danville.&nbsp; Benjamin was in the US Army, and served in the Virginia state assembly.&nbsp; Six of their sons fought in the Civil War, on the Confederate side, and two died in the war.&nbsp;&nbsp; She died in 1874, age 72.&nbsp; <b><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=7420419" target="_blank">Here's her gravesite.</a></b><br /><br />The descendants of Sallie Doswell included some prominent folks.&nbsp; Her son <b><a href="http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fca02" target="_blank">William Lewis Cabell</a> </b>(1827-1911) was a West Point graduate, a Confederate general, and after the war was mayor of Dallas, Texas, and a railroad executive.&nbsp; <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_E._Cabell" target="_blank">His son</a></b> was also mayor of Dallas.&nbsp; <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earle_Cabell" target="_blank">His grandson</a></b> was also mayor of Dallas.&nbsp; Another of Sally's sons,<b> </b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cabell" target="_blank"><b>George Craighead Cabell</b> </a>(1836-1906) was a six-term Congressman from Virginia. (She died at his house.)&nbsp; Her great-grandson <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P._Cabell" target="_blank"><b>Charles Pearre Cabell</b> </a>(1903-1971) was Deputy Director of the CIA at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion.<br /><br />No solid mention of this woman attending the Mordecai school, but I haven't run across any other Sarah Doswells that would fit the profile for a Mordecai student, and this one does, perfectly. Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-12022431141006854112014-03-06T10:14:00.000-08:002014-03-06T10:14:36.186-08:00133. Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Dortch Bullock (1803-1832)I have a student named <b>Betty Dortch</b> in my list of Mordecai students.&nbsp; She's only at the school one session (first half of 1816), and the adult attached to her account might be Major John R. Eaton.&nbsp; It looks like a "Maj. J. R. Eaton" paid for "Miss Dortch" in the school ledger, January 1816; there's another mention of the two names together in the May 1817 ledger page, along with the name "R. Bullock."&nbsp; Other than that and the school rosters, she doesn't seem to have been mentioned by the Mordecais.&nbsp; Not much to go on, but it's an unusual enough name, let's have a look around.<br /><br />It's definitely the name of a prominent North Carolina family in the nineteenth century.&nbsp; <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Theophilus_Dortch" target="_blank">William T. Dortch</a></b> (1824-1889) was <a href="http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=F-24" target="_blank">a North Carolina legislator</a>, born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_County,_North_Carolina" target="_blank">Nash County</a> near Rocky Mount; he once owned the historic house named the "<b><a href="http://www.presnc.org/index.php?option=com_estateagent&amp;Itemid=194&amp;act=object&amp;task=showEO&amp;id=459" target="_blank">Dortch-Weil-Bizzell House</a></b>" in Goldsboro (for sale, and <i>it's accessible</i>!).&nbsp; Another North Carolina Dortch moved to Tennessee, and his son (another <b><a href="http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2599" target="_blank">William Dortch</a></b>) moved to Arkansas, where he owned Marlsgate Plantation.&nbsp; Anyway, plenty of Dortches.<br /><br />Let's try the <a href="http://ncpedia.org/biography/eaton-john-rust" target="_blank">Major Eaton</a> angle.&nbsp; <b><a href="http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/e/Eaton,John_Rust.html" target="_blank">John Rust Eaton</a></b> (1772-1830) was a planter, horse breeder, and state legislator from Granville County, NC.&nbsp;&nbsp; He mentioned a "Mr. Dortch" recovering from smallpox in a 1794 letter, but that's it for the name's appearance in <b><a href="https://archive.org/details/lettersofjohnrus00hamirich" target="_blank">his published correspondence</a></b>.&nbsp; In 1816 he would have been a father to some of his eleven kids (he married Susan Somerville in 1801).&nbsp; And his sister Betty Eaton married.... <b><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=yruvKfanqvAC&amp;lpg=PA184&amp;ots=NUTG94PYub&amp;dq=%22John%20Rust%20Eaton%22%20Dortch&amp;pg=PA184#v=onepage&amp;q=%22John%20Rust%20Eaton%22%20Dortch&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Noah Dortch</a></b>.&nbsp; Bingo.&nbsp; Another of Eaton's sisters, Mary, married William Baskerville--we've already run into him, because Eaton had <b><a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2010/05/32-and-33-ann-and-mary-e-baskerville.html" target="_blank">Baskerville nieces at the Mordecai school</a></b> as well.<br /><br />So here's the story.&nbsp; Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Dortch was born in January 1803, first child of Elizabeth "Betty" Eaton (1787-1810) and Noah Dortch (1781-1811).&nbsp; As the dates show, Betty (and four younger siblings) lost both mother and father by 1811--which might explain why uncle John Rust Eaton was taking care of her school tuition five years later.&nbsp; At 21, she married James Bullock Jr. (1798-1880), whose sister <a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html" target="_blank"><b>Catherine Bullock</b></a> also attended the Mordecai School.&nbsp; (His sister Fanny Bullock married <b>Macon Green</b>, who was one of the Mordecai's male students in their early years.)&nbsp; Betty and James had <b><a href="http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&amp;db=marykl&amp;id=I174163" target="_blank">five children together</a></b>; two died in infancy. Betty Dortch was destined to follow her parents to an early grave--she died in 1832, age 29.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-27099002349852900532014-02-02T14:51:00.000-08:002014-03-13T06:46:45.577-07:00130., 131., 132. The Donaldsons (Eliza, Isabella, and Joanna)Three Donaldson sisters attended the Mordecai school from Fayetteville, all three the daughters of Robert Donaldson, but John McMillan is listed as paying their tuition:<br /><br /><b>Eliza Donaldson</b> (1803-1825) was at the school for seven sessions total--1812-1813, and again 1816-1817; the first time with her older sister Isabella, the second time with her sister Joanna.&nbsp; She was ill with tuberculosis when she married Thomas Hooper in 1825, and died a few months later, age 22.&nbsp; Eliza's sister-in-law, briefly, was another Mordecai alumna, <a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2011/03/61-margaret-broadfoot-hooper-1801-1880.html" target="_blank">Margaret Broadfoot Hooper.</a><br /><br /><b>Isabella Donaldson</b> (1797-1887) was at the school for two sessions in 1812.<br /><br /><b>Joanna Donaldson</b> (1806-1876) was at the school for three sessions, 1816-1817.<br /><br />As the details already given suggest, even in 1996 I had found a lot of information about these girls.&nbsp; Eliza Donaldson Hooper stayed with her former teacher Rachel Mordecai Lazarus in Wilmington during her final illness.&nbsp; Isabella Donaldson (the eldest sister to attend the school) was a lifelong friend to the Mordecais, especially to Julia Judith Mordecai. Caroline mentions Isabella Donaldson in an 1842 letter to the writer Maria Edgeworth, and Isabella wrote to inquire if Ellen was interested in a governess job with a neighboring family that same year.&nbsp; Joanna Donaldson enjoyed a visit from the Mordecai women in 1842, when her husband <a href="http://www.drbronsontours.com/bronsonoliverbronson.html" target="_blank">Oliver Bronson</a> was unwell.&nbsp; It's clear that the Mordecais considered the Donaldsons admirable, unlike a lot of their students' families:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>[Julia] is happy to be with me, but she cannot find anything in the society of Wilmington to compensate for the delightfully rational hours spent with the Donaldson family.&nbsp; I wish they resided here, such intercourse is enviable, &amp; preferring it as we do, how seldom has it been our lot to taste the enjoyment.</i> (Rachel to Ellen, 18 January 1824, in the Mordecai Family Papers, SHC)<br /><br /><i>I may say with truth whenever I have visited Mr. Donaldson's family I have left it with the most delightful sensation of calm tranquility I ever experienced in any society.&nbsp; I believe you know Mr &amp; Mrs. D were from home but Isabella &amp; James were there... </i>(Ellen to Caroline, 18 July 1832, Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke)</blockquote>So there were letters and visits, long after the school years.&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://classicalamericanhomes.org/edgewater-history/" target="_blank">Their brother Robert Jr.</a> was a prominent banker and arts patron in New York, which offers another window into their later lives.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2010/55/48779883_126712645740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://image1.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2010/55/48779883_126712645740.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isabella Donaldson's gravesite <br />in Duchess County, New York<br />via <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=48779883" target="_blank">FindaGrave</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Robert Donaldson Sr. was a wealthy Scottish merchant, part of a community of prosperous Scots in Fayetteville.&nbsp; He <a href="http://www.ncgenweb.us/newhanover/1808wg.html" target="_blank">died in July 1808</a>, and his wife Sarah Henderson soon followed.&nbsp; <br /><b><br /></b><b>Joanna Donaldson Bronson</b> was only two when her father died; she was ten when she went to the Mordecai school with her older sister Eliza (who was thirteen at the time).&nbsp; Joanna moved to New York with her brother Robert.&nbsp; In 1833 she married Dr. Oliver Bronson, from <a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clarke/ehll--bronsonfamily?view=text" target="_blank">a wealthy family</a> in banking and insurance.&nbsp; They had a<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> sons Isaac (1835-1872) (who was with the Union Army during the Civil War), Oliver Jr. (1837-1918), <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=63294024" target="_blank">Willett</a>, and <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=104496863" target="_blank">Robert</a>.&nbsp; A niece described Joanna as "a beauty in her youth---Black waving hair, beautiful grey eyes and much color of complexion --- very gay and very entertaining. She became very deaf (in her old age) but was so agreeable that everyone sought her society."&nbsp; Dr. Bronson stopped practicing medicine and became superintendent of schools, eventually moving to Reconstruction-era St. Augustine, Florida as a school administrator.&nbsp; The Bronsons were benefactors of a missionary society, a girls' school, the American Tract Society, and an "Asylum for Respectable Aged Indigent Females."&nbsp; Their house in the Hudson Valley is now a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Bronson_House" target="_blank">national historic landmark</a>.&nbsp; Joanna was widowed in summer 1875 and <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=bkgFAAAAQAAJ&amp;lpg=PA209&amp;ots=5wT5WcGQDV&amp;dq=Joanna%20Bronson%201876&amp;pg=PA209#v=onepage&amp;q=Joanna%20Bronson%201876&amp;f=false" target="_blank">died in early 1876</a>, age 69.<br /><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></span></span>Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-9484699248973344802014-02-02T09:15:00.004-08:002014-02-02T09:15:39.454-08:00129. M. DickinsonPlaceholder post--I'll come back to this.&nbsp; This student is in the appendix of my diss as having been at the school for one term, the last term of the Mordecai school in 1818.&nbsp; No other information. I want to look at the sources and see where this listing came from.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-1396975605182235802013-12-05T21:26:00.000-08:002013-12-06T10:09:14.510-08:00128. Catherine Gabrielle DeRosset Kennedy (1800-1889)There was a student named Catherine DeRosset at the Mordecai school, enrolled for two sessions, in 1811; Dr. A. J. DeRosset was the adult on her account.&nbsp; As it happens, Catherine DeRosset was from <a href="http://www.myreporter.com/?p=11423" target="_blank">a prominent Wilmington family</a>, and became a friend to Rachel Mordecai after the school years.&nbsp; Rachel Mordecai even named one of her daughters partly for Catherine (her daughter Mary Catherine Lazarus, born 1828; naming story from a letter, from Mary Orme to Ellen Mordecai, 26 September 1828, Mordecai Family Papers, SHC).&nbsp; So <a href="http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/d/DeRosset_Family.html" target="_blank">we know a good deal about her family</a> and how her life turned out.&nbsp; <br /><br />(Note:&nbsp; For a very long time, I remember that she was listed as Catherine <i>Prosser</i> in my draft versions of the school rolls, even while the name DeRosset was familiar in other Mordecai-related contexts.&nbsp; So there's a reminder that handwriting can be a major cause of error.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=14416248" target="_blank">Armand John DeRosset</a> (1767-1859) was a doctor of Huguenot ancestry, like his father and grandfather before him.&nbsp; Catherine Gabrielle DeRosset was the eldest child of her father's second marriage, to <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=14728514" target="_blank">Catherine Fullerton</a> (1773-1737).&nbsp; Catherine had three younger sisters, and a younger brother Armand Jr., as well as an older half-brother (who was also her cousin--their mothers were sisters), named Moses.&nbsp; Catherine was ten years old when she went to the Mordecai school (turned 11 there).&nbsp; She may well have attended school with cousins; her paternal aunt was Mrs. Henry Toomer, her maternal grandmother's maiden name was Toomer, and there was a Sarah Toomer at the school during the same sessions as Catherine was there.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=14416349" target="_blank">Catherine</a> married a Methodist pastor, <a href="http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&amp;db=stirk15apr2006&amp;id=I22553" target="_blank">Rev. William Magee Kennedy</a> (1783-1840) in 1835, becoming stepmother to his children; they moved to Columbia, South Carolina.&nbsp; Catherine was forty the year she was widowed, after just five years wed; she and her ten-year-old stepdaughter <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=23126783" target="_blank">Cattie</a> moved back to Wilmington at that juncture.&nbsp; Catherine and Cattie were close; here's <a href="http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/civilwar/index.php/2013/05/22/22-may-1863-kate-thinks-i-had-better-get-the-grey-dress-you-speak-of-but-i-reckon-i-had-better-try-and-do-without-it-and-get-a-homespun-next-winter/" target="_blank">one of Cattie's letters to Catherine</a>, from during the Civil War.&nbsp; (Many years later, Cattie would marry Catherine's younger brother, Armand Jr.)&nbsp; In Wilmington as a youngish widow, Catherine was a co-founder and <a href="http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?ct=ddl&amp;sp=search&amp;k=Markers&amp;sv=D-67" target="_blank">first president of the Ladies' Benevolent Society</a>, and founder of a home for elderly women, opened as Old Ladies' Rest.&nbsp;&nbsp; She also worked briefly as a nurse at a wartime hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1861 (letter, Cate Kennedy to her sister Liz, 1 November 1861, DeRosset Family Papers, SHC).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ncmarkers.com/Images/markers/D-67a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ncmarkers.com/Images/markers/D-67a.jpg" /></a><br />Catherine DeRosset Kennedy died on Christmas Eve, 1889, age 89.&nbsp; Old Ladies' Rest was renamed the Catherine Kennedy Home in her memory, and retained that name until <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20091026/ARTICLES/910269978" target="_blank">it closed in 2000</a>, considered at the time <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=q7YsAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=xBQEAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=4251%2C3319635" target="_blank">the oldest "home for the aged" in the US</a>.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.cfmfdn.org/catherine-kennedy-home-foundation.asp" target="_blank">The Catherine Kennedy Home Foundation</a> remains a granting entity, <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20090528/ARTICLES/905289907" target="_blank">supporting causes that help senior citizens</a>.<br /><br />(Image:&nbsp; State historical marker for the Catherine Kennedy Home in Wilmington.&nbsp; Reads:&nbsp; "Catherine Kennedy Home / For the elderly.&nbsp; Grew from Ladies Benevolent Society. founded 1845.&nbsp; First home, 1879, stood four blocks east.")<br /><br />One website calls Catherine DeRosset Kennedy a <a href="http://cdm15169.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16072coll5/id/220/rec/7" target="_blank">"driving force"</a>; compared to most of her Mordecai classmates, she certainly took a more public role in pursuing her interests.&nbsp; She's even <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/catherine-kennedy-derossets-independence-a-modern-historians-analysis-of-a-nineteenth-century-southern-woman/oclc/61281545" target="_blank">the subject of a recent master's thesis</a>, "Catherine Kennedy DeRosset's Independence:&nbsp; A Modern Historian's Analysis of a Nineteenth-Century Southern Woman" (MA, Georgia State University 2003) by <a href="http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~agillela/" target="_blank">Angela H. Gilleland</a>.&nbsp; <br /><br />Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-77028172468986697202013-11-04T21:05:00.000-08:002014-01-09T08:36:57.997-08:00126. and 127. Ann and Mary DawsonTwo girls named Dawson --Ann Dawson and Mary Dawson-- attended the Mordecai school in the same five sessions (latter half of 1816 to the end of 1818), both from Georgia.&nbsp; Safe to assume they were kin, and probably sisters.&nbsp; "Richard Blunt for the Misses Dawson" is an item in the school ledger for December 1816, and Richard Blunt is also mentioned paying for "Miss A Dawson" and "Miss M Dawson" in the ledger for February 1818; so they may be related to the local Blunts.&nbsp; Other than those mentions, there's nothing in the Mordecai letters about these two girls.<br /><br />Probably the place to start is Richard Blunt, because <a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2010/07/39-40-41-eliza-martha-and-mary-ann.html" target="_blank">we've already encountered a Richard Blount</a> who was sending students to the Mordecai school.&nbsp; And that <a href="http://www.gcsu.edu/library/sc/collections/blount/index.htm" target="_blank">Richard Augustus Blount (1774-1849)</a> lived in Georgia.&nbsp; And... his wife was born <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=20466440" target="_blank">Mary Dawson</a>.&nbsp; Her brother, John Edmonds Dawson, died in 1811, leaving five young children, including <b>Ann B. Dawson</b> and <b>Mary F. Dawson</b>, with Richard A. Blount as their guardian.&nbsp; (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=BuZ8oukYIF8C&amp;lpg=PA181&amp;ots=ZvMs79VTmP&amp;dq=John%20Edmonds%20Dawson&amp;pg=PA181#v=onepage&amp;q=John%20Edmonds%20Dawson&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Here's their brother</a>, Rev. Dr. John E. Dawson (1805-60), "a prince among men." <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=RqPSAAAAMAAJ&amp;dq" target="_blank">This is a biography</a> that their younger sister Annabella wrote about John.&nbsp; Annabella also wrote <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=c1mK0NhSaIAC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=inauthor%3A%22A.%20P.%20Hill%22&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" target="_blank">an extremely successful cookbook</a> that's been in print for many decades.)&nbsp; Their mother was born Annabelle Burwell, which also links the Dawson girls to <a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2011/10/72-76-burwells-eliza-lucy-martha-mary.html" target="_blank">the Burwell families</a> who also sent children to the Mordecai school (Lucy Burwell, for example, was at the school during the Dawson girls' time).&nbsp; Annabelle Burwell Dawson may have married a second husband after 1811.<br /><br />So here's what we can find, from <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=dWVfrEWbMRYC&amp;lpg=PA386&amp;ots=KufJwKkFb-&amp;dq=Ann%20Burwell%20Dawson%20Cook&amp;pg=PA386#v=onepage&amp;q=Ann%20Burwell%20Dawson%20Cook&amp;f=false" target="_blank">that connection</a>:<br /><br /><b>Ann Burwell Dawson</b> (c1804-1841) married Fortunatus Sidney Cook in <a href="http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/morgan/vitals/marriages/marrgeal.txt" target="_blank">December 1820</a>, and had six children (Algernon, Anna, Mary Frances, Monimia, Barclay, and John). Ann was widowed in 1837, and died at Wetumpka, Alabama in 1841, age 37, at the home of her brother-in-law Henry Cook (see below).&nbsp; <a href="http://www.southeasternroots.com/obituaries/Alabama/ann-cook.htm" target="_blank">Here's her obituary</a>.&nbsp; Her eldest son <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=O0FHAQAAIAAJ&amp;lpg=PA863&amp;ots=yqQXGCIguJ&amp;dq=Algernon%20Cook%201837&amp;pg=PA863#v=onepage&amp;q=Algernon%20Cook%201837&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Algernon Marcus Cook became blind</a>, possible in consequence of his service in the Mexican War.&nbsp; Daughter Monimia married the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_T._Tichenor" target="_blank">Isaac Taylor Tichenor</a>, who later (years after she died) became the president of the <span class="st">Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now called Auburn University).</span><br /><br /><b>Mary Frances Dawson </b>(c1807-), Ann's younger sister, married Col. Henry H. Cook in <a href="http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/morgan/vitals/marriages/marrgeal.txt" target="_blank">December 1821</a>, and had two daughters (Cordelia and Mary).&nbsp; She died in Troup County, Georgia, but I can't find a death date.<br /><br />So.... from being the barest of sketches on the rolls in my dissertation appendix, Ann and Mary Dawson have become connected into the broad network of cousins who attended the school, and have their lives drawn in a bit more.&nbsp; Calling this entry a success!&nbsp; But if you know more about the Dawson girls, I'd love to hear about it.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-72568646342187958002013-10-24T10:44:00.001-07:002013-10-24T10:44:06.177-07:00124. and 125. Eliza Davis (the other one) and Tempy DavisOkay, back and ready to deal with the other two Mordecai students named Davis--another Eliza Davis (from Richmond) and Tempy Davis, also from Virginia.<br /><br /><b>Eliza Davis</b> from Richmond attended the school in its last year, for both sessions of 1818, and has "Major Davis" listed as the adult on her account.&nbsp; ("Major Davis for daughter" is a notation in the school ledger for January 1818.)<br /><br /><b>Tempy Davis</b> (probably Temperance Davis) of Surry County, Virginia, attended the school only in its last session, the second half of 1818, and has Archibald Davis as the adult name attached to her.&nbsp; ("Baldy Davis for Miss Tempe" is a notation in the school ledger for April 1818.&nbsp; There's also mention of a Baldy Davis attended examinations at the school in June 1826, when it was run by Caroline Mordecai Plunkett.)<br /><br />Temperance Davis has a more distinctive name, so let's start there. <br /><a href="http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/VA-SOUTHSIDE/2004-01/1073307116" target="_blank"><br /></a><b><a href="http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncwarren/bibles/davis-massbrg.htm" target="_blank">The Davis-Massenburg Bible</a></b> in the Warren County Bible Records (I remember visiting those many years ago!) has Temperance Williams Davis (1804-1854), daughter of Archibald and Elizabeth Hilliard Davis, who would have been fourteen when she attended the Mordecai school--a pretty typical age for a student.&nbsp; This Davis family had Surry County roots and branches.&nbsp; And here's the kicker:&nbsp; her younger sister Lucy Henry Davis (1811-1896) is mentioned in the same family source as having attended "the school of Mr. and Mrs. Plunkett" in Warrenton, for four years.&nbsp; This is one of those families where everyone has many children, and uses the same names over and over, but this particular Temperance is a pretty good fit.<br /><br />Assuming we have the right Temperance Davis:&nbsp; She was one of a dozen children born to her parents; she lost her mother in 1816, when Tempie was just twelve years old. A couple years later, she attended the Mordecai school in its final session.&nbsp; She was sixteen when she married William Williams Thorne (1798-1838) in 1820, and they had <b><a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cummingsofscgen/Genealogy%20of%20the%20Evans/n1208.htm" target="_blank">at least ten children</a></b> together in Halifax County, North Carolina.&nbsp; (Their matching middle names may indicate kinship; William's mother was Martha W. Williams.)&nbsp; From <b><a href="http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&amp;db=murquhar&amp;id=I1308" target="_blank">the dates of her children's births</a></b>, Tempe was pregnant for about half of the eighteen years she was married. And then she was widowed, in 1838, at age 34. When Temperance Davis Thorne died in 1854, age 50, her younger children were teenagers, and some of her older daughters were newly married.&nbsp; Here's <b><a href="http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p15012coll1/id/7222" target="_blank">the William Williams Thorne family Bible</a></b> to record their marriages and deaths.<br /><br />And.... I still haven't got around to that other Eliza Davis.&nbsp; I won't forget, but it is a very common name combination.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-91743718676827292762013-09-02T09:18:00.000-07:002013-09-03T22:02:34.174-07:00123 and 124. Eliza Davis and Eliza DavisI have two students named Eliza Davis listed as Mordecai students in the appendix of my dissertation.&nbsp; (Ask any teacher, there's often one or two duplicate names in a school, especially if it's relatively limited in the range of cultural traditions represented. I once had two Rachel Howards in different sections of a course I was TAing at Wisconsin, for example.)<br /><br /><b>Eliza Davis</b> <b>of Richmond</b> VA attended the school in its last year (both sessions of 1818), with a Major Davis as the adult on the account.<br /><b><br /></b><b>Eliza. Davis</b> <b>of Warrenton</b> NC was married by 1817 (so she's not the above Eliza Davis); she attended the school for four sessions, 1812-13, and has Buckner Davis as the adult on her account.<br /><br />The second girl is easier to identify, because she lived in Warrenton and the Mordecais shared news about her long after her school days.&nbsp; <b>Betsy Davis Christmas</b> (as she was usually known) was the daughter of Buckner and Nancy Chapman Davis.&nbsp; She married Thomas H. Christmas (brother of fellow students <b><a href="http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2012/07/93-94-jane-and-sarah-christmas.html" target="_blank">Jane and Sarah Christmas</a></b>) in February 1817, apparently against her parents' wishes.&nbsp; Within months it was already known in the community that he treated her cruelly.&nbsp; I don't usually include long excerpts from letters here, but in this case, they tell the tale:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>18 September 1817</b>, Ellen to Solomon, from Warrenton:&nbsp; "You will think with us that her disobedience is if possible too soon punished when I tell you that the unfortunate Betsy Davis (that was) has already been treated so cruelly by her husband as to be obliged to fly from his house and seek a protector in the overseer.&nbsp; He brought her to Dr. D's where she remained a day, withstanding all Mr. C's entreaties to return with him until the evening.&nbsp; When he cried and made many concessions which I suppose at length prevailed with her. Her poor father has just returned from the Springs with his health much improved.&nbsp; He was sent for to town and wished to take her home with him but was persuaded not." (Mordecai Family Papers, SHC)</blockquote><blockquote><br /><b>22 June 1820</b> Ellen to Solomon: (death of Buckner Davis mentioned) "soon after his death his son became deranged, &amp; Betsy was so much afraid that her husband would return &amp; beat her ill that she left her father's house and lives now at P. Davis's plantation under the protection of Steed the overseer!"(Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke)<br /><br /><b>3 March 1826</b>, Ellen to Solomon (from Warrenton):&nbsp; "I told you in my last letter that the shooting match would probably prove fatal to Tom Xmas but he is on the recovery, and Dr. Davis is bailed until court for $10,000."&nbsp; (Betsy's cousin* Dr. Stephen Davis shot Thomas Christmas, but both men survived.) (Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke)<br /><br />(The story of Stephen Davis shooting Thomas Christmas also appeared in the <a href="http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mamidnws/1826/MAR.html" target="_blank">newspapers</a>.)<br /><b><br />12 May 1826</b>, Caroline to Ellen, from Warrenton:&nbsp; "T. Christmas going through the street after his wife with a stick in his hand....some of the ladies begged him to go to bed in one of the downstairs chambers, he abused his wife most shamefully &amp; swore he would kill her.&nbsp; Mrs. Soln Green got in his lap &amp; said she would sit there to keep him from going....at breakfast he scarcely spoke civilly to anyone &amp; immediately got up in his gig and went off with poor Betsy at full gallop.&nbsp; After he got home he was very furious breaking everything to pieces, after dinner his wife ran to Mr. Ransom's &amp; begged them to hide her...Betsy in the meanwhile had gone to Mr. Somervilles...It is said he did whip her that night whether true or not I do not know." (Mordecai Family Papers, SHC)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>13 January 1827,</b> Caroline to Ellen:&nbsp; "[Mr. Anderson] told us of Tom Xmas having shot a man, one of the Nunneries' apprentices... The man bled a great deal but is now nearly recovered.&nbsp; TC was taken up the next day &amp; carried to court."&nbsp; (Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke U)</blockquote><blockquote><br /><b>22 January 1827?</b>, Ellen to Caroline, from Virginia: "I have been thinking of her Betsy Xmas ever since I read your letter... You remember the day we came away she said to me, 'I think sometimes no one in the world remembers or cares for me."&nbsp; Poor girl--poor girl--I hope her husband may be sent away where at least he can abuse her no more." (Mordecai Family Papers, SHC)</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>&nbsp;5 March 1827</b>, Caroline to Ellen, from Warrenton:&nbsp; "You will be sorry to hear that poor Betsy Xmas is in town she came to Judge Hall's on Tuesday night or rather Wednesday morning for she walked all night long and came alone. Sally told me she looked dreadfully &amp; is very much bruised &amp; she has not eaten a mouthful the day she left home... He has sent for her two or three times but I do not believe she has gone yet." (Jacob Mordecai Papers, Duke U)</blockquote><blockquote><b>12 May 1829? 1828?</b>, Caroline to Ellen, from Warrenton:&nbsp; "Tom Christmas is out of jail his mother &amp; brother stood his securities."</blockquote><br />After this point, Caroline Mordecai Plunkett moved out of Warrenton, and there were no longer any members of the family there to report on Betsy Davis Christmas's fate.&nbsp; However, we can pick up the story in other records.&nbsp; It looks like Tom Christmas had other incidents of violence within the family; his son killed a<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibrarync/6678795151/" target="_blank"> brother-in-law</a>,* and Tom himself was <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=PLwDAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=%22Thomas%20H%20Christmas%22&amp;pg=PA410#v=onepage&amp;q=%22Thomas%20H%20Christmas%22&amp;f=false" target="_blank">convicted of murder in 1839</a>, after killing his wife's cousin Richard Davis.*&nbsp; A state supreme court case, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=d6sDAAAAYAAJ&amp;dq=%22Thomas%20H%20Christmas%22&amp;pg=PA540#v=onepage&amp;q=%22Thomas%20H%20Christmas%22&amp;f=false" target="_blank"><i>Christmas v. Mitchell</i> (1845)</a>, establishes that both Betsy and Tom were dead by the time the case was brought (involving the ownership and inheritance of slaves in the Davis/Christmas family). We also learn from that court document that their eldest son Leonidas was deaf from birth, and had never received an education.<br /><br />The specifics are a little fuzzy, but taking several versions together gives a general picture of her life. <a href="http://www.shell-family.net/history/ourfamily/christmas/aqwg05.htm" target="_blank">This family history</a> has Elizabeth Chapman Davis Christmas dying in 1842, the mother of five sons all born between 1817 and c1825. (But I think the birthdate is wrong there. She wasn't born as early as 1780; the same chart has her parents marrying in 1800.) The same family history has Thomas Christmas dying in 1842 as well.&nbsp; <a href="http://family.hodank.com/jumbo/group6/f_fa8.html#0" target="_blank">This family history</a> has Elizabeth (Betsy) born c1797, and shows her as Thomas's second wife--it shows him with a first marriage that lasted less than two years.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.ancestraltracks.com/chris001.html#id21" target="_blank">This one</a> also shows the first brief marriage, with a child born in 1816. <a href="http://christmas.whturner.com/tccg19.htm" target="_blank">This family history</a> has her with eight children, mostly sons, born 1817-1837, and has her a widow for two years before she died in 1842.<br /><br />*Facts marked with an asterisk above are corrections made by Mr. Shannon Christmas, 9/3/13, a Christmas family historian--see first comment.<br /><br />I'll come back for the other Eliza Davis soon.&nbsp; Betsy Chapman Davis Christmas's story is a lot to deal with in one blog post.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-65366169765806650692013-07-03T21:17:00.002-07:002013-08-13T14:26:42.967-07:00118, 119, 120, 121, 122: The Dancys (Agnes, Frances, Martha, Nelly, Sally)Five students named Dancy appear in my rolls for the Mordecai school:<br /><br /><b>Agnes Dancy</b> was at the school for one year, 1813, with "Fr. L. Dancy" listed as her guardian.<br /><br /><b>Frances Dancy</b> was at the school for one year, 1818, with "Col. Dancy" as the adult on her account.&nbsp; She may have been from Warrenton.<br /><br /><b>Martha Dancy</b> was at the school for two years, 1817-1818, and has Col. David Dancy listed as her adult.<br /><br /><b>Nelly Dancy</b> was at the school for two years, 1813-1814, and has William Dancy as the adult on her account.<br /><br /><b>Sally Dancy</b> was at the school for two years, 1817-1818, and has Col. David Dancy listed as her adult.<br /><br />Okay, looks like we have some cousins here... There's mention of William Dancy paying tuition for Nelly Dancy (and Miss Hoskins) in the school ledger for April 1813; for November 1813; for April 1814; and in November 1814.&nbsp; Col. David Dancy is listed as making payments in 1817, and the notation "Col David Dancy, pd him for negro Grace &amp; children, 750, and for Rosina, 400" (January 1818) makes clear that his connection to the Mordecais was more involved than the usual parent's.&nbsp; Colonel Dancy was building a new chimney in time for the school examinations in November 1817, expecting an influx of visitors perhaps (2 November 1817, Rachel to Ellen, Mordecai Family Papers at UNC).&nbsp; Seems pretty clear that Col. David Dancy was a local man in Warrenton.<br /><br />After the school years, there are several mentions of the Col. Dancy family moving to Alabama ("he says the Col is pleased with the country &amp; is going on very prosperously," notes Rachel in a letter to her father, dated 30 May 1824, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke); and there's Martha Dancy marrying a Dr. Bibb in 1831 (Caroline to Ellen, 27 September 1831, Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke).<br /><br />So that's a good bit to work with.&nbsp; Let's crank up the search engines... Some tidbits pop to the top of the results:<br /><br /><b>Col. David Dancy</b> owned <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timoleon_%28horse%29" target="_blank">Timoleon</a>, a race horse famous enough to have his own wikipedia entry.&nbsp; <br /><br /><b>Col. Francis Littlebury Dancy</b> (1806-1890), originally from Edgecombe County, NC, West Point graduate, was mayor of St. Augustine, Florida, in the 1830s, and developed the <a href="http://www.dancy.net/namesake/tanger.htm" target="_blank">Dancy Tangerine</a> (among his many other achievements).&nbsp; But this man was only seven years old when Agnes Dancy was enrolled at the Mordecai school, so he's probably not the "Fr. L. Dancy" who was listed as her guardian.<br /><br />Hmmm.&nbsp; Beyond this, I'm hitting brick walls.&nbsp; There were a LOT of Dancys in and around North Carolina in the 1810s.&nbsp; I'll keep working on this one.<br /><br /><b>UPDATE 8/13/13</b>:&nbsp; A reader has sent me this following email, identifying all five Dancy girls.&nbsp; Wow!&nbsp; Thank you!<br /><br /><blockquote><i>These five Dancy girls come from three different families.</i><br /><br /><i>Agnes Dancy was the daughter of John Dancy of Edgecombe County, who died Dec. 31, 1798.&nbsp; His wife Nancy Dancy (whose maiden name is said to have been Exum) died in Edgecombe in 1804, leaving five children.&nbsp; The Francis L. Dancy who paid her tuition was her uncle.&nbsp;&nbsp; There is no further information about her after 1821, when she received a share of deceased father’s estate.</i><br /><br /><i>Nelly Dancy was the only child of William Dancy and wife Lucy Northern of Edgecombe County, and was a first-cousin to Agnes Dancy.&nbsp; According to available census records, she was born in 1799, and had married William E. Bellamy by 1827.&nbsp; She died testate in Edgecombe County in 1881.&nbsp; She left issue: Napoleon Bonaparte Bellamy (married Mary Johanna Jones of Raleigh), Mary E. Bellamy (died unmarried), William E. Bellamy, Jr. (married Mary Louisa Howell), Frances Della Bellamy (married first Willis Weathersbee, second William F. Watson, third Benjamin J. Norcum), and Laura E. Bellamy (married William Jesse Etheridge).&nbsp; </i><br /><br /><i>Frances Dancy, Martha Dancy, and Sally Dancy were most likely the daughters of Col. David M. Dancy, who was originally from Northampton County, NC, and was distantly related to the Dancy family of Edgecombe County.&nbsp; By 1800, Col. Dancy had moved to Warren County, where he married Fanny Wood in 1806.&nbsp; This family later moved to Madison County, Alabama.</i><br /><br /><i>Sarah R. Dancy married James G. Turner in 1826 in Madison County, Alabama.&nbsp; Her sister Martha H. Dancy married Dr. Joseph Wyatt Bibb in 1825, also in Madison County.&nbsp; In “Early Settlers of Alabama, Vol. I” Martha Dancy is described as “the accomplished belle of North Alabama.”&nbsp; There is no further information on Frances Dancy.</i></blockquote><br /><br /><br />Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-76035862835919942022013-05-15T12:33:00.000-07:002013-05-15T12:35:18.581-07:00117. Susan CutlerThere's a student in the rolls of the Mordecai school named Susan Cutler.&nbsp; She attended the school for two years, 1817-1818, and may be connected to a place called "Goodwynsville," and a person called Dr. Cutler.&nbsp; "We were rather surprised Friday," notes Caroline Mordecai in a February 1818 letter, "not at the arrival of Susan Cutler, but to see her accompanied by Lucinda Mason, they sleep in that share bed in the little room..."&nbsp; (Caroline to Ellen Mordecai, 2 February 1818, in the Jacob Mordecai Papers at Duke University)&nbsp; In another mention, we learn that Susan might have continued at the Warrenton school after the Mordecais sold it in 1818:&nbsp; "S. Cutler &amp; H. Goodwyn return wh. their father--he was not alarmed but recd. such positive directions from Col. G. that he had no discretion." (Solomon to Rachel &amp; Ellen, 11 April 1819, from Warrenton).&nbsp; Dr. Cutler appears in the school ledger in February 1817, making payments "for Susan, for M. Hill, for L. W. Mason."&nbsp; And again in June 1817, "for daughter, for L Mason." And again in November 1817, "for Miss Mason and daughter."&nbsp; Also in June 1818, again for Susan and Lucinda.<br /><br />That's a good bit to work with!&nbsp; Okay, let's see what the online family histories can tell us...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wikitreasure.com/Goodwynsville+VA+Ghost+Town" target="_blank">Goodwynsville</a>, no long inhabited, was in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, near Stony Creek.<br /><br />A<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i6kIAQAAIAAJ&amp;lpg=PA104&amp;ots=YvfLspInnB&amp;dq=%22William%20Cutler%22%20Dinwiddie&amp;pg=PA104#v=onepage&amp;q=%22William%20Cutler%22%20Dinwiddie&amp;f=false" target="_blank"> Dr. William Cutler</a> (1766-1836) of "Mount Pleasant" in Dinwiddie County was a horse breeder of some repute, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=55I38FXWyPgC&amp;lpg=RA1-PA144&amp;ots=MkrK7nKbXL&amp;dq=%22William%20Cutler%22%20Dinwiddie&amp;pg=RA1-PA144#v=onepage&amp;q=%22William%20Cutler%22%20Dinwiddie&amp;f=false" target="_blank">originally from Boston</a> (some sources claim he was the son of Yale rector Rev. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Cutler" target="_blank">Dr. Timothy Cutler</a>, but that seems unlikely as Timothy Cutler died in 1765, aged 81; perhaps they were kin, though).&nbsp; He married twice.&nbsp; His second wife (married 1804) was Susan (or Susanna) Greenway Mason (1764-1836), widow of William Mason.&nbsp;&nbsp; His son from his first marriage, John H. "Jack" Cutler, became a doctor, and was married to Lucinda Wingfield Mason, youngest daughter of Susan Greenway Mason from her first husband.&nbsp; Pretty sure this is the daughter we want:&nbsp;<b> <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=55I38FXWyPgC&amp;lpg=RA1-PA145&amp;ots=MkrK7nO7XK&amp;dq=Susan%20Cutler%20Mason%20Stith&amp;pg=RA1-PA145#v=onepage&amp;q=Susan%20Cutler%20Mason%20Stith&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Susan Greenway Cutler</a></b>, daughter of William and Susan.&nbsp; (So the Mordecai students Lucinda and Susan were half-sisters, and became sisters-in-law as well.)&nbsp; She <a href="http://www.vahistorical.org/arvfind/masoncsec6.htm" target="_blank">married twice</a>:&nbsp; to Robert W. Mason (1801-1827) in 1826, and to Richard P. Stith (1801-1850) in 1837; she had a daughter, Susan Greenway Stith in 1840, just before she died in 1841. (Richard remarried, to Mary Louisa Parham.)&nbsp; There were four Mordecai students named Stith, so Susan Cutler's second husband may have been a longtime member of her wider social circle.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-77836054226924157292013-05-15T10:40:00.000-07:002013-05-15T10:40:02.116-07:00Welcome visitors!In the past month, three visitors to the Mordecai Female Academy blog have been in touch to share a lot more information about the students that are in their family trees, or to ask for more information about people they care about in this school's story.&nbsp; Welcome all!&nbsp; You're the reason I reopened this project as a blog.&nbsp; I'll be making amendments to the specific entries you helped enrich, but I wanted to take a pause in the student profiles to thank you also.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-7513851794550465582013-04-09T10:20:00.001-07:002013-04-09T10:20:49.088-07:00116. Martha CrowThere's a student in my Mordecai rolls named <b>Martha Crow</b>, who attended for one session, the second half of 1813.&nbsp; She's called "<b>Patsy Crow</b>" in the Mordecai ledger, on the August 1813 page, and her name is with Betsy Mason and <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GRid=38337833" target="_blank">Littleton Williamson</a>--possible connections there.*&nbsp; As far as I can see, that's her only mention in the Mordecai family's papers.<br /><br />There are a few possible Martha Crows in the genealogical sites: <br /><a href="http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Abraham_Crow_and_Sarah_Willis_%281%29" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Abraham_Crow_and_Sarah_Willis_%281%29" target="_blank">This Martha Crow</a> was born in North Carolina about 1795, making her 18 in 1813--older than the usual student, but not out of bounds, and that would explain her brief stay.&nbsp; She married John A. Dugger in 1835 ((as his second wife, when she was 40).&nbsp; <a href="http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Abraham_Crow_and_Sarah_Willis_%281%29" target="_blank">Same Martha Crow</a> was definitely called Patsy, and was the daughter of Abraham (aka Abel) Crow and Sarah Willis, of Orange County NC.&nbsp; Much of their family migrated to Tennessee, including Martha.<br /><br />A slightly better candidate, age-wise, is <a href="http://woodswell.com/family/genealogy/p86.htm#i4789" target="_blank">this Martha Crow</a>, born in 1800 to Rev. Charles Crow Jr. (born in NC, 1770-1845) and Sarah Harlan (born in NC, 1775-1820) in South Carolina.&nbsp; In 1819 she married a James Meredith, and had two children, Permelia (b. 1822 in Georgia) and Henry Hitt Meredith (1820-1896).&nbsp; She seems to have <a href="http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/l/e/b/Jesse-H-Lebaron/GENE1-0005.html" target="_blank">married again</a>, to Thomas Harvill(e), before she died in 1830, age 30.<br /><br />Another possibility (on the young side this time) is <a href="http://www.itsallrelative.info/familygroup.php?familyID=F105290&amp;tree=default" target="_blank">Martha "Patsy" Crow</a> born c1807.&nbsp; She married in 1824, in Kentucky, to John J. Tipton, and had two children, Martha and Samuel.&nbsp; <br /><br />Well, that's three possibilities.&nbsp; None of them obviously far more likely than the others.&nbsp; Maybe something will come up to help tip the balance, or bring a completely different Martha Crow to consideration.&nbsp; <br /><br /><br />*I thought Littleton Williamson's origin might be a help--but he was from Georgia (I don't have any students definitely from Georgia yet, and it would have been pretty far to go). He may simply have been <i>en route</i> in 1813, having served in the War of 1812, and carried a few students along the way.&nbsp; The "Betsy Mason" in their company could have been the "Eliza Mason" in my rolls--except that Eliza Mason wasn't a student at the Mordecai school in 1813, to my knowledge.&nbsp; Nor was the only other student named Mason. Curiouser and curiouser.<br /><br />Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-11148391291281838882013-03-04T20:30:00.000-08:002013-05-15T11:00:35.579-07:00114-115. Margaret and Martha Crittenden BrownlowTwo girls named Crittenden are on my list of Mordecai students:<br /><b><br />Margaret B. Crittenden</b> of Halifax County, NC, attended the school for both 1811 sessions.<br /><b>Martha Maria Crittenden</b>, also of Halifax County NC, attended the school for the first 1811 session.<br /><br />The word "Crittendens" appears in the school ledger in September 1813, but I don't know the context of that.&nbsp; There don't seem to be any mentions of them in the family correspondence.<br /><br />********<br /><b>Martha Crittenden</b> (1799-1881) had a long association with Warrenton.&nbsp; From <a href="http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncwarren/warrenton/chap7.htm" target="_blank">a local history written in the 1920s</a>:<i><br /></i><br /><blockquote><i>"Mrs. Brownlow was Miss Martha Crittenden of Halifax County.&nbsp; She was a lady of means and had received the best educational advantages of her day.&nbsp; She was a boarder at the Mordecai School in Warrenton when the building burned.&nbsp; At her beautiful home, La Vallee, in Halifax County, she had teachers to conduct the education of her four daughters... Mrs. Brownlow was one of the most remarkable women I ever knew.&nbsp; Her courage, her indefatigable industry, her capacity along all lines, her cheerful amiability, her patient resignation when adversity came, were subjects of the comment and admiration of all her knew her..."</i></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote>It goes on like that for a while.&nbsp; Not sure how one session at the Mordecai school counts as "the best educational advantages of her day," but that's a pretty typical tone of local histories.&nbsp;&nbsp; Anyway, we learn that in 1817 Martha married the most wonderfully-named <b>Dr. Tippoo Sahib Brownlow </b>of Wilmington<b> </b>(c1794-1879).*&nbsp; The couple lived in Halifax County, where Tippoo was a trustee of <a href="http://genealogytrails.com/ncar/halifax/schools_levalleefemaleseminary_announcement_1837.html" target="_blank">a female seminary</a> located on their La Vallee estate.&nbsp; In 1849 or 1850, they moved into Warrenton and bought the corner hotel, "perhaps the best known and best kept hotel in the State," according to the same local history (so take that as likely hyperbole).&nbsp; This is one of their grandsons, <a href="http://uvastudents.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/james-brownlow-yellowley-7-oct-1848-6-june-1914/" target="_blank">James Brownlow Yellowley</a> (1848-1914).<br /><br />*Sidenote:&nbsp; There seems to have been a fashion for "exotic" names among some wealthy white North Carolinians of this generation.&nbsp; Tippoo Sahib Brownlow was obviously named for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipu_Sultan" target="_blank">Tipu Sultan</a> (1749-99), the sultan of Mysore.&nbsp; Another man from a different family, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=60YOAAAAIAAJ&amp;pg=PA39&amp;lpg=PA39&amp;dq=%22William+Richardson+Davie%22+Hyder&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=DwSJfEx7_Z&amp;sig=_z5XRG4QtjaHvkVvDBIyo_XNIjE&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=yu4oUd1d6smLAoL3gPgB&amp;ved=0CEYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&amp;q=%22William%20Richardson%20Davie%22%20Hyder&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Hyder Ali Davie</a> (son of the governor of North Carolina) was named for Tipu's father, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyder_Ali" target="_blank">Hyder Ali</a>, also a sultan of Mysore.&nbsp; <br /><br />**********<br /><br />I can find much less about <b>Margaret Crittenden</b> of Halifax County.&nbsp; There's <a href="http://craven.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/ncmarriage/ncmarriagerecords1818.htm" target="_blank">a marriage record</a> that finds her matched with <b>Anthony A. Wyche</b> of Virginia in November 1818.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.whiskeryancestors.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I193&amp;tree=T01&amp;PHPSESSID=c8202056143ba379602ce20d67b3b50b" target="_blank">This family chart</a> has his name as <b>Augustus Wyche</b>, and shows them with three daughters (Margaret, Laura, and Augusta). (There's <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&amp;GSln=Wyche&amp;GSiman=1&amp;GSsr=41&amp;GRid=77079542&amp;" target="_blank">a grave for Laura Wyche Henarie</a> (1827-1915) in a Catholic cemetery in Texas.&nbsp; The bio with her listing says she was born in North Carolina, the daughter of Margaret Crittenden and "Emmett" Wyche.&nbsp; So Mr. Wyche's first name is a bit slippery.)<br /><br />Margaret may have married twice; <a href="http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/rapides/cemeteries/mtolivet.txt" target="_blank">Margaret Crittenden Carnal</a> (1800-1871) turns up in a cemetery in Louisiana, with a daughter Augusta Wyche Canfield (1830-1898); if that's the same woman, some sad stories are in that plot.&nbsp; Augusta Wyche Canfield looks to have had three little daughters on the eve of the Civil War; her husband died in battle, and all three girls were gone by 1867 (the youngest lived to be six years old; the other two, even shorter).&nbsp; So, did Margaret go to comfort her youngest daughter, widowed and thrice bereaved, in her last years?&nbsp; <br /><br />&nbsp;**********<br /><br />Note that I still have no parents' names for Margaret and Martha, nor indeed do I know for certain that they were sisters.<br /><br /><b>UPDATE 5/15/13:&nbsp;</b> I have heard from a local historian with an interest in the Crittendens.&nbsp; Margaret and Martha were, indeed, sisters, the daughters of Henry Crittendon of Northhampton County; he died in 1803.&nbsp; Their mother may have died before that date, when the girls were very little.&nbsp; My correspondent also confirms that Margaret married a second time, to a Mr. Carnal (whose first name isn't agreed upon in the various records).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Martha Crittenden and Tippoo Sahib Brownlow had four daughters, it seems:&nbsp; Margaret (Mrs. James B. Yellowly); Elizabeth (Mrs. Benjamin W. Edwards); Rebecca (Mrs. Nathaniel Edwards), and <a href="http://www.ncgenweb.us/ncwarren/warrenton/chap39.htm" target="_blank">Ellen Brownlow</a> (unmarried), who was a teacher in Warren County, and who (many years after the Civil War) was in possession of a breastpin containing a lock of Robert E. Lee's hair.Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095024084870135836.post-35451740379060166002013-02-02T13:04:00.000-08:002013-02-02T13:04:05.506-08:00113. Maria CrenshawThere was a student at the Mordecai school named Maria Crenshaw.&nbsp; I have her attending for the last three sessions (mid-1817 to the end of 1818), from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendersonville,_Virginia" target="_blank">Hendersonville VA</a>, with an adult named Branch Osburn possibly connected to her account.&nbsp; "Branch Osburn for M. Crenshaw" appears in the school ledger for July 1817; and "Osburne for Miss Crenshaw" in November 1817; again the names are paired in the January 1818 ledger page.&nbsp; In June 1818, a "Capt. Knight" is paying for Miss Crenshaw's schooling.&nbsp; <br /><br />Now, bear with me, this gets a little complicated:&nbsp; <a href="http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/l/a/m/Stuart-Lamson/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0757.html" target="_blank">Branch Osborne</a> (b. c1793) of Nottoway Co., Virginia married twice.&nbsp; His first wife, Elizabeth Guerrant Dupuy, was the older sister of a Mordecai student, <b>Elvira Dupuy</b> (more on her soon).&nbsp; His second wife, Mildred Carter, was kin to the Crenshaws--her stepmother was born Lucy Anne Crenshaw, and two of her brothers married women named Crenshaw (presumably kin of Lucy's).&nbsp; So we have this Mr. Branch Osborne connected to the Mordecai school through his first wife, and to the Crenshaw family through his second wife.&nbsp; But still no Maria Crenshaw...<br /><br />So I feel like I'm close, but no bingo.&nbsp; Maria Crenshaw was very likely one of the Crenshaw/Carter/Osborne clan living around Nottoway and Amelia Counties.&nbsp; But which one, and what happened after her brief stay in Warrenton, I still can't say.<br /><br />(A further tidbit--there are Marthas in this family.&nbsp; Did I misread Maria/Martha?&nbsp; Doesn't seem likely, but maybe.)Penny L. Richardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00102296070193780691noreply@blogger.com0